April 15, 2011

Dreaming Big.

If you've been around blogland, then perhaps you've met this little guy.

His name is Sergey and my new friend Danielle is dreaming big about bringing him home.

I first heard about Sergey from my friend Meg. And the more I read about their story, the more I wanted to know about Danielle...so I did what any nosy writer would do and I interviewed her. But in case you're not one for reading interviews, THIS is the link the fundraiser page on Danielle's blog.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you give $10, you're entered to win one of the MANY prizes--ipad 2, silhouette machine, artwork...check out the blog for all the different prizes you can win! You can to enter your name once for every $10!

$10 People! Can you spare $10 to bring a baby to a loving family?

Now, for those of you, who, like me, are uber curious about how this whole thing started...Grab your coffee and read on...This is the story of Sergey and the beautiful family that wants to adopt him.

(Photos throughout of some of the awesome things you could win!!)

[courtney] Tell me how you found Sergey and how you knew he was your boy?

[danielle] It was back in December when I saw that so many blogs were carrying a little blog button with the sweetest little boy on the picture. It was for a sweet baby named Cliff, Reece's Rainbow was hosting their Christmas Angel program. So I clicked on it and it led me to Jeannett's blog. She told the most heartbreaking story I had ever heard and was trying to raise funds for this little boy to ease the financial burden for a future family to come and claim him as theirs forever. I wanted Cliff to be ours but I wanted God's will above my own more than anything. So I prayed and followed his story faithfully, checking everyday to see if he had found a family yet. My sweet children also wanted to bring him home and love on him so they got all their money from their piggy banks and put it together to make a whopping $12.00. We then donated as a family and watched as the total went up. Very exciting!

(The silhouette, not the computer!)

While I was praying for Cliff to find a family, hoping that we were it, I fell in love with so many other children. I know now God was softening my heart to others. The day I found out that a family had come forward to adopt Cliff I cried bittersweet tears. The kind of tears a momma who aches for her child cries, but I was also rejoicing and thanking God that He had answered my prayers. After I found out Cliff had a family I continued to look at the other children to see who was getting a family and who was not. We have one son and five girls, so I looked at boys a lot. Also I found out that boys are harder to find families for, so that was where my focus was. I began talking to my husband about it and we both began praying about it. We had agreed to start the year by fasting and praying for 21 days so that is what my prayer was for.

It was a few weeks after that, that my husband Ash mentioned that he had looked at the children on RR and had fell in love with Sergey. So I jumped on it:) I put his pic on my screensaver and mentioned him in casual conversation whenever I could. All the while, praying for my husband's heart to soften to the possibility of adopting him or if it wasn't what the Lord had planned that He would take away my desire completely. It was on a very normal day, I had prayed a prayer for Sergey and also for an answer from the Lord. I had asked that the Lord would reveal His answer through my husband, I needed to know for sure that He was also speaking to my husband's heart about Sergey as well. Ash called about 15 minutes after this prayer, we talked casually about the days events and at the end of the conversation when I was thinking that I wouldn't be getting my answer today, he says "so I think we should adopt Sergey, why don't you email Reece's Rainbow". Just. Like. That. And I've been up to my eyeballs in paperwork ever since:)

[courtney] I read on your blog a comment you wrote like "Why did you decide to adopt if you don't have the money." Tell me what led you to do that.

[danielle] Well we knew that God was in this, but we also knew that He doesn't want His children to go into debt. So we had to trust that God was going to provide what we needed. To some this may sound foolish and irresponsible but we have always tried to put our faith and trust in God and not go by what the world would have us do. The Lord has provided for every fee towards this adoption and we KNOW that He will provide for the rest. His heart is for the orphans and He wants Sergey to be home with his family:)[courtney] The Fundraiser is like a virtual spaghetti supper! How does it work and how can we help?

[danielle] As I have gotten involved in the adoption community through Reece's Rainbow as well as Facebook I had noticed that a lot of families were doing fundraisers. I had started thinking about ways to fund raise, bake sales, garage sales, etc... But the idea of blog fundraising would not go away. So I did a post on my blog telling people about our upcoming fundraiser and that I was looking for items to give away. Being a blog with very few followers I knew that this was a shot in the dark. I got no response and I felt discouraged.

But my mama bear instincts came out in full force and there was no way I was going to just give up so I did something that was way out of my comfort zone...I asked for help. I knew that I wanted God to be glorified in this and I wanted to get people to see the truth about these children who are wasting away just waiting for a family. So I knew I had to go BIG!!! My approach was to go to blogs and ask these women that shared the same faith as I did and whom I admired very deeply to help spread the word and donate an item from their Etsy shop if they had one. I got a wonderful response right away and it kept me going to continue to ask others. I started going to Etsy shops that I had added to my favorites and asked them for help as well. It has been wonderful and prizes keep rolling in!

So basically the fundraiser works like this:You must make at least one $10 donation to receive one entry. After you donate you let me know by adding a comment in the comments section of the original post. You can add a comment for every $10 you donate and also after your initial donation if you post our story with our link on Twitter, Facebook or your own blog. The fundraiser will run from April 11-25 and a winner will be chosen for each prize. Prizes so far include and iPad 2, Silhouette machine, art, gift certificates and much more!

[courtney] Tell me a little about you and your family...what kind of life is Sergey going to have? I'm assuming he'll be smothered in kisses all day long. :)

[danielle] My husband, Ash, and I will be married 11 years on May 20th. My husband works for Nestle D.S.D., formerly Dreyer's Grand Ice cream and I am a stay at home mommy:) We have six children, one son, Prestin, the oldest 9 years old. And five girls, Tatum 8, Avery 6, Madeline (Madi) 5, Ainsley 3 and Sadie 1 1/2. So you can be sure Sergey is going to be getting a lot of love when he gets here.

We know he will need a lot of physical therapy because the orphanages usually place children with special needs in what is called laying down rooms. They are rarely taught or encouraged to walk and most often are drugged to keep them quiet throughout the day. The orphanages say that this is for their best sleep, a load of bunk is what I call it. And we can also assume that he will be very malnourished after following others who have adopted special needs children from his country. I doubt he has ever had solid food:( So his life is about to change drastically for the better!

[courtney] What's God teaching you through all of this? I'd love to hear more about your spiritual journey because this sounds like a faith stretcher... :)

[danielle] I feel God is definitely stretching our faith and asking us to rely on Him in everything. We honestly can't move to the right or to the left without Him because we don't really know which way to step until He tells us. He has been leading me into a deeper compassion for people and a desire to serve others. And He is changing this very meek and quiet wall flower into a passionate advocate for these children, I have found my voice and I intend to use it for His glory.

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Dreaming Big.

If you've been around blogland, then perhaps you've met this little guy.

His name is Sergey and my new friend Danielle is dreaming big about bringing him home.

I first heard about Sergey from my friend Meg. And the more I read about their story, the more I wanted to know about Danielle...so I did what any nosy writer would do and I interviewed her. But in case you're not one for reading interviews, THIS is the link the fundraiser page on Danielle's blog.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you give $10, you're entered to win one of the MANY prizes--ipad 2, silhouette machine, artwork...check out the blog for all the different prizes you can win! You can to enter your name once for every $10!

$10 People! Can you spare $10 to bring a baby to a loving family?

Now, for those of you, who, like me, are uber curious about how this whole thing started...Grab your coffee and read on...This is the story of Sergey and the beautiful family that wants to adopt him.

(Photos throughout of some of the awesome things you could win!!)

[courtney] Tell me how you found Sergey and how you knew he was your boy?

[danielle] It was back in December when I saw that so many blogs were carrying a little blog button with the sweetest little boy on the picture. It was for a sweet baby named Cliff, Reece's Rainbow was hosting their Christmas Angel program. So I clicked on it and it led me to Jeannett's blog. She told the most heartbreaking story I had ever heard and was trying to raise funds for this little boy to ease the financial burden for a future family to come and claim him as theirs forever. I wanted Cliff to be ours but I wanted God's will above my own more than anything. So I prayed and followed his story faithfully, checking everyday to see if he had found a family yet. My sweet children also wanted to bring him home and love on him so they got all their money from their piggy banks and put it together to make a whopping $12.00. We then donated as a family and watched as the total went up. Very exciting!

(The silhouette, not the computer!)

While I was praying for Cliff to find a family, hoping that we were it, I fell in love with so many other children. I know now God was softening my heart to others. The day I found out that a family had come forward to adopt Cliff I cried bittersweet tears. The kind of tears a momma who aches for her child cries, but I was also rejoicing and thanking God that He had answered my prayers. After I found out Cliff had a family I continued to look at the other children to see who was getting a family and who was not. We have one son and five girls, so I looked at boys a lot. Also I found out that boys are harder to find families for, so that was where my focus was. I began talking to my husband about it and we both began praying about it. We had agreed to start the year by fasting and praying for 21 days so that is what my prayer was for.

It was a few weeks after that, that my husband Ash mentioned that he had looked at the children on RR and had fell in love with Sergey. So I jumped on it:) I put his pic on my screensaver and mentioned him in casual conversation whenever I could. All the while, praying for my husband's heart to soften to the possibility of adopting him or if it wasn't what the Lord had planned that He would take away my desire completely. It was on a very normal day, I had prayed a prayer for Sergey and also for an answer from the Lord. I had asked that the Lord would reveal His answer through my husband, I needed to know for sure that He was also speaking to my husband's heart about Sergey as well. Ash called about 15 minutes after this prayer, we talked casually about the days events and at the end of the conversation when I was thinking that I wouldn't be getting my answer today, he says "so I think we should adopt Sergey, why don't you email Reece's Rainbow". Just. Like. That. And I've been up to my eyeballs in paperwork ever since:)

[courtney] I read on your blog a comment you wrote like "Why did you decide to adopt if you don't have the money." Tell me what led you to do that.

[danielle] Well we knew that God was in this, but we also knew that He doesn't want His children to go into debt. So we had to trust that God was going to provide what we needed. To some this may sound foolish and irresponsible but we have always tried to put our faith and trust in God and not go by what the world would have us do. The Lord has provided for every fee towards this adoption and we KNOW that He will provide for the rest. His heart is for the orphans and He wants Sergey to be home with his family:)[courtney] The Fundraiser is like a virtual spaghetti supper! How does it work and how can we help?

[danielle] As I have gotten involved in the adoption community through Reece's Rainbow as well as Facebook I had noticed that a lot of families were doing fundraisers. I had started thinking about ways to fund raise, bake sales, garage sales, etc... But the idea of blog fundraising would not go away. So I did a post on my blog telling people about our upcoming fundraiser and that I was looking for items to give away. Being a blog with very few followers I knew that this was a shot in the dark. I got no response and I felt discouraged.

But my mama bear instincts came out in full force and there was no way I was going to just give up so I did something that was way out of my comfort zone...I asked for help. I knew that I wanted God to be glorified in this and I wanted to get people to see the truth about these children who are wasting away just waiting for a family. So I knew I had to go BIG!!! My approach was to go to blogs and ask these women that shared the same faith as I did and whom I admired very deeply to help spread the word and donate an item from their Etsy shop if they had one. I got a wonderful response right away and it kept me going to continue to ask others. I started going to Etsy shops that I had added to my favorites and asked them for help as well. It has been wonderful and prizes keep rolling in!

So basically the fundraiser works like this:You must make at least one $10 donation to receive one entry. After you donate you let me know by adding a comment in the comments section of the original post. You can add a comment for every $10 you donate and also after your initial donation if you post our story with our link on Twitter, Facebook or your own blog. The fundraiser will run from April 11-25 and a winner will be chosen for each prize. Prizes so far include and iPad 2, Silhouette machine, art, gift certificates and much more!

[courtney] Tell me a little about you and your family...what kind of life is Sergey going to have? I'm assuming he'll be smothered in kisses all day long. :)

[danielle] My husband, Ash, and I will be married 11 years on May 20th. My husband works for Nestle D.S.D., formerly Dreyer's Grand Ice cream and I am a stay at home mommy:) We have six children, one son, Prestin, the oldest 9 years old. And five girls, Tatum 8, Avery 6, Madeline (Madi) 5, Ainsley 3 and Sadie 1 1/2. So you can be sure Sergey is going to be getting a lot of love when he gets here.

We know he will need a lot of physical therapy because the orphanages usually place children with special needs in what is called laying down rooms. They are rarely taught or encouraged to walk and most often are drugged to keep them quiet throughout the day. The orphanages say that this is for their best sleep, a load of bunk is what I call it. And we can also assume that he will be very malnourished after following others who have adopted special needs children from his country. I doubt he has ever had solid food:( So his life is about to change drastically for the better!

[courtney] What's God teaching you through all of this? I'd love to hear more about your spiritual journey because this sounds like a faith stretcher... :)

[danielle] I feel God is definitely stretching our faith and asking us to rely on Him in everything. We honestly can't move to the right or to the left without Him because we don't really know which way to step until He tells us. He has been leading me into a deeper compassion for people and a desire to serve others. And He is changing this very meek and quiet wall flower into a passionate advocate for these children, I have found my voice and I intend to use it for His glory.